T.I. Says Drug Problem Started With Prescriptions

First Published: November 22, 2010 9:30 AM EST Credit: Getty Images

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Caption T.I. gets dapper at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards at Gibson Ampitheatre in Universal City, Calif., on June 6, 2010T.I. says his drug problem started when he received prescriptions for Oxycontin and hydrocodone after a series of dental surgeries this year.

“After the pain went away, I kept taking it. I had like five, six prescriptions. So, I had, like 80 pills. Everybody else might drink or smoke a blunt; I took a pain pill,” the 30-year-old says in an interview win the December issue of Vibe magazine.

T.I. said he is now clean and sober, thanks in part to his September arrest in Los Angeles. Police found ecstasy pills on him, and while the case was eventually dropped, a judge found him in violation of his probation stemming from a 366-day prison stint for trying to buy illegal guns and sentenced him to 11 months in jail.

Prior to going back to jail, the Atlanta rapper attended one-on-one and group therapy sessions to help kick his addiction to pills and codeine, which he was drinking to get high.

He says he’s now learned his lesson.

“If you rationalize putting yourself in harm’s way, risking your well-being, your health, your freedom, your family’s well-being and livelihood in order to be high, that’s the rationale of an addict,” he said.

But while his wife, Tameka Cottle, was arrested with T.I. and faces a misdemeanor drug charge for possession, he would not say she had a problem with drugs.

“I don’t know. She went with me to some meetings and counseling. She ain’t got no problems,” he said. “Her thing is she smokes. Smoking weed is different than taking pain pills. You can smoke weed today and not smoke another blunt for another three months.”

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